We watched several movies during the past few weeks, all rented through Netflix, in which we've been members for three years. Just think--for three years, we haven't made a single trip to a video store. Zero time spent perusing the racks of recent and old releases, trying to decide what to rent. Zero time spent standing in long lines. Netflix is a pure time-saver...and money saver, all things considered.

Last Saturday we watched "Redeye," and the previous week we watched "Transporter 2." Both were carriers of fairly mindless mayhem and mischief. Nothing particularly redeeming, just fun rides. We've never watched "Transporter 1." We'll need to do tht, because we kinda liked the sequel. An interesting kind of action hero.

I had heard about "The Battle of Algiers," a French movie with subtitles made somewhere around 1960. It's black and white, and involves how the French got booted out of Algeria (after having already been unceremoniously ejected from Vietnam). It was very, very good. At least, as a historical piece, I found it quite interesting. I had heard that it was filmed with a documentary feel, and that's certainly the case. This one did, indeed, have some redeeming value.